All you wanted to know about D&T but were afraid to ask?

Torben Steeg and Hilda Beaumont have written a short book for design & technology teachers both in England and abroad; to support heads of department in particular although we expect the book to be useful to teachers in training. The publisher is Routledge, and the title is Design and Technology in your School: Principles for Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment. In writing this book we have called on the expertise of those who have significantly influenced the developing nature of the subject by inviting them to be critical friends of our writing and in some cases by contributing short pieces themselves. As a result, the content was not restricted to the thoughts of Torben and Hilda but was able to include voices from across the community of practice. This paper will describe the structure of the book, the devices used to support active engagement with the text, the contribution of critical friends and Thought Pieces, and the dealing with contentious issues. In the Concluding Remarks the paper discusses the place of the book in subject’s current state of uncertainty

Characterising Structure-Property Reasoning within a Chemical Design Challenge: Green Bubble Soap

Where design seems to merge easily with physics or technology education, it does not seem to take place much in secondary chemistry education. Design is one of the crosscutting concepts between the different STEM subjects, (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and is therefore included in curricula and standards in many countries. Structure-function reasoning is an important design skill. In a chemical context it shows similarities with structure-property reasoning (SPR). This SPR is a common practice for expert chemists but difficult to learn for secondary students. Given the similarities, chemical design activities might be a way to enhance students’ SPR. Moreover, stimulating SPR might open a way to expand the role of chemistry in integrated STEM education. We describe an explorative study in which the design of bubble soap is used as a context to promote students’ SPR. Data was collected in the form of audio recordings of student conversations within the design team, student-teacher conversations and design drawings on worksheets. Qualitative analysis, using the perspective for SPR as a framework, revealed that identified SPR was expressed in three ways: as a link between structural features and substances, as a link between the term ‘molecule’ and property and as a link between molecular structures and properties of a substance. Furthermore, analysis showed that SPR was only found during evaluation, discussion and ideation stages of the design process. The results indicate that this chemical design project can be used to stimulate students’ SPR and that SPR can be a way to integrate design practices more in chemistry classrooms

Augmented reality to support self-directed learning in practical technology teacher training : Presentation of the SelTecAR project and investigation of the conditions for success.

Augmenting reality through augmented reality (AR) can be a useful tool to support self-directed learning processes. This possibility is being used in the SelTecAR project (Self-directed Learning in Technical Studies through Augumented Reality) of the Technical Education working group at the University of Oldenburg to improve the manual-practical training of technical education students and to consider more strongly that some students with previous experience can link to previously acquired skills, the other students cannot. Therefor a new learning concept is being developed for the technology teacher training for the workshop module, which enables AR-supported self-directed learning with flexible learning times and assistance. Within the project, an augmented reality environment is created in the workshops where teaching takes place, in which students can use their own smartphones to view instructions as overlays or video tutorials and call up important information on tools or machines. For the purpose of scientific monitoring, support needs are determined in order to be able to set up the AR environment in a targeted manner; in addition, conditions for success for the use of the AR environment are investigated. The results of the determination of the support needs for self-directed learning show that especially the work with machine tools and the circuit design are learning contents for which help for self-directed learning is needed. The investigation of the conditions for success in implementing such an environment happens within the development. Several points become apparent. Among other things, the selection of the right software plays a major role depending on the support needs. In addition, access must be low-threshold (use of the private smartphone, without login, etc.) and the use must be integrated into the instruction phases preceding the self-learning phases

Artificers, satisficers and optimisers: Echoes of Simon and ‘ways of being’ in Design and Technology Education

Herbert Simon created the neologism ‘satisficing’ in order to address a particular issue he found regarding problem solving in organisations.  His work also included such concepts as ‘bounded rationality’ and has influenced many areas of human endeavour including, at times, the theorising of problem-solving in Design and Technology (D&T) education. The paper gives an overview of Herbert Simon’s work and neologism, drawing on his landmark text The Sciences of the Artificial (Simon, 1969/1996).  Context is offered with comparisons between the (positivistic) problem-solving of the technical-rational 1960s zeitgeist and subsequent human-centred design practices and genres. Imagining three ‘ways of being’ in the field of D&T, the paper explores how the roles of artificer, satisficer and optimiser can play out for pupils, teachers and D&T’s problematic (sic) curriculum.  Whilst echoes of Simon’s work can still be found in D&T education, and the three roles can contribute to the design repertoire of pupils and teachers alike, it is argued that any application of them should be understood for their limitations as ‘problem-solving’ cannot equate designing – in theory or in practice

Considering the credibility of technology education research: A discussion on empirical insights and possible next steps

Technology education is a maturing research field. If studies are conducted which lead to suggestions for practice – which many are – as such changes can impact a substantial number of learners and require significant resources, it is essential that the underpinning results are credible. Therefore, much like there are standards for educational practice, standards in research are equally as important. Such standards help ensure that findings are valid and trustworthy. There are several dimensions to research credibility, such as replicability, reproducibility, the clear presentation of research questions and/or hypotheses, and reporting transparency, and it is important that the credibility of technology education research is considered for several reasons. In addition to ensuring sufficient empirical support for recommendations for practice, credibility is important to ensure trust in findings from both researchers and the wider community of stakeholders. It is also important for new studies which build upon prior work, that the evidential strength of the prior work is clearly understood. Over the past two years, several studies have been conducted to examine current levels of credibility dimensions, specifically replicability and transparency, in technology education research. In this paper, the results of these will be briefly summarised with a view towards suggesting general areas for improvement and in providing practical ways in which to do so. More importantly, through this paper a broader discussion can be started around what standards should be considered for technology education research across different dimensions of credibility. Finally, other ways in which research credibility can be examined will be considered with a view towards gaining an understanding of what the technology education research community consider as more or less important within this research agenda

Implementation and analysis of a spatial skills course for Secondary level STEM education

High spatial skills have been directly linked to enhanced performance in STEM disciplines, with improvements in spatial skills linked to an increase in female retention at the university level. Spatial skills development and direct training are well researched and implemented within university level engineering education but are less defined at earlier stages of education. It is hypothesised that a spatial intervention implemented at the secondary level could be beneficial in order to boost student performance in STEM, where it still influences their interest in subjects and future career paths. The purpose of this paper is to present the implementation process of a spatial intervention in Irish secondary schools and the initial analysis of combined teacher and student data. The intervention was implemented with Transition Year (aged ~15 to 16 years old) students. Fifty teachers undertook a tailored professional development training to prepare them to deliver the spatial skills intervention, some of which then took part in various qualitative data gathering activities. The intervention was delivered to approximately 1500 students. They were administered a range of psychometric tests, including multiple spatial tests and a fluid reasoning test to investigate their development in a variety of cognitive aspects. This paper will focus on investigating the possible relationships between teacher spatial ability and student gains in spatial ability. The findings of the study were positive, indicating the successful implementation of the intervention and showing promise for future iterations

Social Emotional Learning and its framework for Technology Education

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a key construct for engagement in technology education learning at the undergraduate level. The sample population for this applied research study is two higher education institutions, one located in the Mississippi Delta with a predominately homogenous population of rural, African American students and the other in West Virginia, with a predominant population of rural Caucasian students. The students were enrolled in technology education-based courses and participated in the research study survey to assess their social emotional learning and their overall college success and engagement.  The findings of this very limited sample size showed that undergraduate students failed to connect the importance of social emotional skills especially empathy and social awareness, with academic success. Students tended to rank themselves highly in academic based categories even when their academic GPA did not reflect that rigor. All students ranked themselves low in awareness of others’ emotions and especially awareness of their faculty’s perspectives

Secondary Students Intrinsic Motivation during Multidisciplinary STEAM projects : A quantitative study on the influence of competence, autonomy and relatedness in secondary Dutch classrooms

Education is usually organized along the line of mono-disciplines. It is however argued that a focus on solving problems, designing and advising for clients will be more meaningful for students and will enhance their motivation for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects and careers. Therefore, the Dutch network of Technasia schools have positioned Integrative STEAM projects for clients central in their curriculum. Usually these projects are related to one discipline and conducted by students with a science-oriented profile. In a pilot, 8 schools developed and conducted Multidisciplinary STEAM Projects for pupils in grade 9 to 11 using social cooperative approaches such Jigsaw and perspective-based question prompts that scaffold multi-disciplinary ways of thinking. The self-determination theory links intrinsic motivation with the presence of autonomy, relatedness, perceived competences. The theory also links the way students perceive the relevance of their learning activities to motivation. Therefore the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) questionnaire was used to determine half-way and after the project of 182 students their interest and enjoyment as well perceived competence, effort, pressure, perceived choice, value/usefulness and relatedness. For relatedness to peers and to the client the original statements from IMI were adapted. The results show that intrinsic motivation was slightly positive on average, while relatedness between teammates was positive and pressure low. Students experienced working from different disciplines as valuable. It is suggested to develop new items to measure relatedness to the client as those based on the original IMI where not able to measure this construct well

Rethinking Measures of Attitude Toward Technology in Technology Education

Technology curriculums encompass an interdisciplinary approach that integrates science, engineering, the arts, and mathematics, along with a design-oriented learning process. Given the rapid advancement of technology and the challenging environment, technology education has the potential to enhance students\u27 positive outlook on technology. The objectives of this study are to gather existing student attitude scales for technology education, analyse the cognitive, affective, behavioural, and environmental components of these scales, and describe the assessment format and its application. This study referenced established research procedures and instructions, used keywords to research and examine the literature, and collected literature on relevant scales. Afterwards, a coding framework was developed based on the theoretical structure of this study for the research content analysis. Last, descriptive data and critical analysis information were reported. The results of this study can offer a comprehensive component structure for the development of attitude scales in technology education. Furthermore, they will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how research in technology education investigates students\u27 attitudes

Professional Learning Opportunities for the Hangarau Māori-medium Technology Curriculum

This paper is the third in a series of papers exploring the development of the Māori-medium Technology curriculum, specifically focusing on professional learning development. It utilises document analysis and interviews with curriculum experts, drawing on curriculum alignment and coherence theories. Curriculum coherence affects student learning across various levels: national, subject, school/classroom, and systems. Data comes from Ministry of Education records and interviews with teacher professional development facilitators. The study reviews professional learning literature, particularly meta-analyses and reviews, in the context of curriculum coherence. It examines how curriculum coherence relates to the professional development needs of teachers implementing the Hangarau curriculum, highlighting the challenge of interpreting broad learning outcomes. The paper suggests principles for aligning national curriculum content and professional learning, aiding facilitators and teachers in designing effective professional development for improved student learning